Yes, Your Reports Matter to Us!! So you’ve heard us talk about it, you’ve read our reports, and some of you may have even submitted one…but why are they so important? Yep, I am talking about your monthly reports and what they mean to our mission!

Advocacy We need your reports for many reasons! Most importantly, they support our advocacy efforts. We include your information in testimony and discussions with policy makers. Your reports help us to be a powerful voice for military families. Your information identifies current trends and issues of importance for our testimony and for discussions with policy makers. And there are lots of other reasons your reports matter!

Media Inquiries Sometimes the media will contact NMFA and ask a specific question about military families. Our Government Relations Department and our Communications dept are able to reference your reports to give the media a better understanding of military families

And donors are often interested in how Volunteers are active within our Association. Your unique role in our advocacy efforts and programs is a great way for us to highlight your efforts and can lead to funding opportunities.

Recognition We also want to be able to recognize your volunteer efforts. We use the info and Volunteer hours you submit to help us acknowledge your hard work!

501 c (3) status The volunteer hours you report help us maintain our 501 c(3), nonprofit status and meet IRS requirements

What should I report to NMFA? NMFA Volunteer Hours Association Activities/Projects Local concerns and successes Goals So what do you report? Include your volunteer hours and what you did for the month, the issues or concerns military families are discussing and experiencing in your community, and also your Volunteer goals for the next month.

General Trends/Info - Information that isn’t too in- depth or specific, but something you might be hearing from multiple families. (Example – Complaints about overall appointment access at a clinic or MTF from multiple families.) In the next few slides, I will cover how to report what you are hearing in your community. You can submit General Trends and Information to us. Maybe families are having an overall challenge with appointment access at an MTF or maybe you are hearing a lot of discussion about access to hourly care at the Child Development Center.

Specific situation – A scenario that might be specific to one person, but most likely this is happening to other families. Please provide details! (Example – A family called the Nurse Advice line and received an urgent care referral. The family went to the urgent care and was later billed for the urgent care visit.) Or you might report on a specific situation. If so, please be sure to provide details so we can fully understand the issue. A recent example like this involves one of our Volunteers who was referred to urgent care by the Nurse Advice line only to be billed for the urgent care visit later. She wondered how many other families might be having this same experience so she reached out to us and we had a conversation with the Nurse advice line and the regional TRICARE contractor to resolve the matter.

Specific details, and an expected action – Note the details of a situation and the follow up that is expected. Example – A Navy family recently contacted NMFA with the details about the birth of their child. There were complications during the birth an emergency C-section was performed without anesthesia. Sometimes we hear about something so concerning that the person reporting, wants to prevent anything like it to happen to anyone else. In a case like this, we need the full details and the expected follow up. NMFA was recently contacted by a Navy family who told us a story about complications during the birth of their baby and the mother having an emergency C-section without anesthesia. The family wanted us to be aware of their story so this would not happen again. We sent a letter to the Navy Surgeon General asking what steps would be taken to ensure it wouldn’t happen again and we also asked how this was allowed to happen at all. Just an FYI – NMFA does not have caseworkers on staff, but we do try to assist military families whenever possible. We will do what we can to provide guidance and try to get some answers.

Facebook conversations – Copy and paste a thread of conversations from your local networks or installation Facebook pages. Social media is a great way to gather and share information. If you are a part of an online conversation and families are voicing a series of problems or challenges and you feel it is important for us to know. Just copy and paste a conversation thread and share it with us.

Health care Housing Education Spouse Employment Child care Transitions These are the topics we hear about most. You can also share stories about great things happening in your community!

When do I report? Each month, your Manager will send you an email reminder to report. But, you don’t have to wait for a monthly report to submit information to us. Feel free to call or email at any time.

Online reporting form Word Document Email Phone call Conference calls There are several ways you can report to us! Whatever is easiest for you. Use our online reporting form located on the Volunteers Only portion of the website. Create your own word document and submit it by email. Or just reply to the reminder email you get once a month Or you can call your Manager and report your hours, activities and community information And we also get great information on our Quarterly Conference calls

Karen Ruedisueli, Deputy Director, Government Relations “Advocacy is telling your story over and over again to everyone who will listen until you find someone who can help.” Karen Ruedisueli, Deputy Director, Government Relations This is a quote from our own Karen Ruedisueli! Your reports allow NMFA to tell the stories of military families to policy makers, decision makers, leaders in the Pentagon, and communities.

We Can’t Wait to Read Your Reports! Please contact your VCO Manager if you have any questions!